Armenia`s regulator is likely to reject MTS Armenia`s bid to sell  shares again

ArmInfo. The application of MTS Armenia CJSC (Viva-MTS brand, a subsidiary operator of the Russian  MTS PJSC) to complete a transaction for the sale of company shares may be rejected. This is stated in the draft decision of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of the Republic of Armenia,  which will be considered on January 17.

Thus, according to the application, the Russian "Mobile TeleSystems"  OJSC , which is the actual controlling shareholder of the Armenian  "MTS-Armenia" company, applied to the PSRC with a request to acquire  100% of the shares of "MTS Armenia" from Aramayo Investments Limited  registered in Cyprus (part of the <MTS-Armenia> chain of  shareholders).

That is, the Russian MTS essentially wanted to gain direct control  over MTS-Armenia, without intermediaries.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission intends to reject the  application.  The draft decision notes that the Ministry of  High-Technology Industry, which had not previously objected to the  deal, opposed it on the grounds that it had already agreed to approve  an application for the sale of shares in MTS Armenia as part of  another application, as well as "based on state interests."

We are talking about giving consent to the purchase of shares of  MTS-Armenia by the Cypriot Fedilco Group Limited in November last  year. It was noted that after the conclusion of the transaction, MTS  Armenia will cease to be a member of the MTS Group- Mobile  TeleSystems PJSC ("MTS")l, the leading telecommunications group in  Russia. The transaction must be closed within six months from the  date of publication of the final decision.

Meanwhile, earlier, in April, PSRC rejected the application of the  same company, citing the fact that it could harm the state interests  and security of Armenia.

The "MTS Armenia"  telecommunications company (trademark   VivaCell-MTS, entered the Armenian telecommunications market in 2005)   maintains leadership among Armenian telecommunications operators in   the list of largest taxpayers. According to the State Revenue   Committee of the Republic of Armenia, for January-September 2023, MTS  Armenia paid 12.6 billion drams to the state treasury, of which 4.3   billion drams in direct taxes (including profit tax, income tax), and   5.2 billion drams - in VAT. The company dropped from 5th to 12th   place over the year in the list of 1000 large taxpayers.